Top 5 Jason Statham Roles Ever!
Okay ladies and gentlemen, so before you go check out Crank 2: High Voltage this weekend, here is a quick recap of what I consider to be the best roles Jason Statham has had in his short but meteoric career. Disagree with my choices? Well, you can either hide your resentment in a hard little ball at the back of your mind or scroll on down to the bottom of the page to the comments section and badmouth me to your heart’s content. Enjoy!.
5. The Transporter (2002)Now why would Jason Statham’s longest running and potentially most popular franchises come in last place? Well, mostly because I’m still a little put off by the fact that Frank Martin’s ultimate romantic involvement was with a freckly redhead with a bad accent. Not that there’s anything wrong with freckles except that they makesher look like she's about 11 years old. Frank Martin is hard as nails, why would he go for such a girl? Nevertheless, the character of Frank Martin in The Transporter movies is one of his most famous roles, so can’t be overlooked. The first film is the best of the three as far as the brand of straightforward hardcore action that Statham is best known for, and even though the series took the expected steps down with each successive sequel it is still a franchise that gleefully indulges us in what Statham does best – stone-faced ass kicking!
Transporter trivia – The trailer for the first movie showed a scene where Frank Martin deflects a missile with a tea tray, but Jason Statham requested that it be taken out because he didn’t think audiences would believe it. No word yet on why he didn’t have a problem with the scene in part 2 where he gets a bomb off the bottom of his car by launching it through the air and, while upside-down, hooking the bomb neatly onto a nearby construction crane…
4. The Bank Job (2008)In this outstanding bank heist movie, Statham plays Terry Leather, a car salesman in debt to a brutal loan shark. When approached with an opportunity to get out of debt by simply robbing a bank, he’s unable to resist. The movie is based on the true 1971 story of a bank robbery that led to an enormous cover-up due to the discovery of some scandalous stuff that would have embarrassed a lot of powerful people were it to become public. This Leather and his gang of cronies find themselves in a position to make some enormous demands from hugely influential people who don’t want their names tarnished by his discovery of their secret lives. How exactly true it is remains uncertain because the real case is so shrouded in mystery, but the movie provides such a convincing case for what possibly happened that it has a ring of truth that makes it one of Statham’s more fascinating movies. The hard-core action takes a back seat to a good story in this one, but Statham still has a powerful presence and gives a performance that is much better than many of the straight-forward action stars of the past.
Bank Job trivia – Director Roger Donaldson said that one of the most difficult days of filming was when they shot the scene in the brothel. Upon arriving on set, he discovered that most of the women had shaved their genitals, which was uncommon for the early 1970s, so he had to have them wear pubic wigs called “merkins,” which kept slipping out of place and caused Donaldson “much aggravation.” Poor guy!
3. Crank (2006)Okay, so this article is really supposed to get you all psyched about this weekend’s release of Crank 2: High Voltage, but the reality is that there are two other movies that I personally consider to be better than the first Crank film, although Crank is definitely Statham’s highest octane, adrenaline fueled action extravaganza. It wastes no time and pulls no punches, and now that there is a sequel coming, I guess we can lay to rest that weird confusion about the end of the first movie where a lot of people were for some reason confused as to whether or not Statham’s character died at the end. It always seemed pretty obvious to me (and was one of my favorite parts of the movie), but now it seems we have our answer!
Statham plays Chev Chelios, a man injected by a curious “Beijing cocktail” of some kind of synthetic poison that will kill him as soon as his heart rate drops below a certain point. Sort of like Speed but with a man instead of a bus. It’s a preposterous murder attempt that could only be dreamed up by an action movie screenwriter, but man what a great excuse to send Statham tearing through the streets (and hospitals) of Los Angeles in his frantic attempt to seek revenge before he drops dead! This is hardcore action at its most basic, but with a front man like Jason Statham the movie isn’t even slowed down by his ridiculous girlfriend, who has the approximate I.Q. of a raisin. This one is a must-see, and not only because the sequel is about to come out!
Crank trivia – The guy in the hospital who suggests that Chelios get his epinephrine from nasal spray is Chester Bennington, better known as that dude who sings for Linkin park.
2. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)I know I’m gonna get some grief for putting this one at #2 since it was Jason Statham’s first film and also kicked ass, but I’m doing it anyway. Lock, Stock was the film that really launched the career of British badass Guy Ritchie, but I still think he made some improvements on his next writing and directing effort, Snatch.
Statham plays a character curiously named Bacon who moves among the low-lifes of London in what might be an overly complex plot involving gambling debts and porn kingpins not above hiring men with names like Barry the Baptist to employ amputative methods to collect payments. The plot is highly confusing and demands multiple viewings, but luckily it is so well written and acted that it’s good enough to see several times. I have to admit that I have always thought the title was a little goofy, but it definitely stands at the top of the list of hard boiled British action comedies.
Lock Stock trivia – Vinnie Jones, also in his acting debut, was released from police custody on the same day that he started filming for this movie. He had been arrested for beating up his neighbor.
1. Snatch (2000)Jason Statham, Brad Pitt, Guy Ritchie, Vinnie Jones, and Benicio del Toro. If ever the action genre comes to be in some kind of trouble, these are the guys that could be called on to save it. Some consider Snatch to be a bigger budget remake of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, but it has such good additions and such a good story that it easily stands on its own. Statham plays Turkish, once again operating amongst British low-lifes, this time dealing with rigged boxing matches, stolen diamonds, man-eating pigs (yeah, you read that right), and a curious brand of gypsies known as Pykies. Brad Pitt plays an unintelligible character named Mickey O’Niell. No one can really understand a word of what he’s saying, which tells you something about the structure of the movie, since the entire plot revolves around him. This is a snappy and brilliantly written action movie, with crisp dialogue that speeds along even when you can’t understand much of what’s being said. It has to be one of the best British gangster movies ever made and is populated with brilliantly written characters, the best of which has to be Brick Top. “You want sugar in your tea?” “No thanks, I’m sweet enough!” Classic!
Snatch trivia – A lookalike had to be used for Bullet Tooth Tony in the scene outside Brick Top’s Bookies where Vinny and Sol are about to give him the diamond. Vinnie Jones couldn’t come to the set that day because he was in jail again for fighting. Nice work!
Note: When you go see Crank 2 this weekend, keep your eye out for this Art Hsu, who plays Johnny Vang, one of the film's villains. This guy is on his way up...
Honorable Mention
The Italian Job
War
Cellular
Chaos
